A couple of weeks ago, I began making up a weekly schedule and printing it off for each of the girls. This accomplishes a few things: they like highlighting off the things they've completed, I can see at a glance how much they still have left to do, it's an easy way to keep a record of what we've been doing, and most importantly, it's given me freedom from our pre-written curriculum. I love the Winter Promise program, but if it's all there staring at me, I feel like I have to do it all. Homeschooling is suppose to be flexible -- or at least, for me it is! But I'm a box-checker at heart, and I tend to become a slave to something that was intended to help me. Making my own schedule frees me from that. Seems like a ridiculously simple solution, but it took me months to figure it out.
Last week Kathryn finished up Horizons 3 math, so she began Horizons 4 this week. I love that homeschooling allows us to work at our own pace, at an appropriate level for each child, no matter what we call their grade number. I actually really dislike the concept of being in a certain grade, but I we go with it for the purposes of state record-keeping, and because it's easier to explain to friends and family. Anyway, Lindsey is still doing Life of Fred, and that's going fine for now, but I'm already considering what I want to do when she finishes that.
I bought both girls their own nature-themed copywork books from Queen Homeschool because I've discovered that Lindsey loves copywork. It's one of the few school-related things she enjoys so far, so I want to encourage that!
We've added creative writing to our weekly schedule, and I'm using lessons from The Write Stuff Adventure. This week the girls both wrote about a spider, based on the itsy bitsy spider song. Kathryn's story amused me greatly. Lindsey did a good story last week about being the only person on earth and then hearing a knock at the door.
Handiwork is something both girls enjoy. Kathryn has done some cross-stitching before, but Lindsey is new to it. We bought a few small (not overwhelming!) cross-stitch sets for the girls and they wanted to start on them right away! This kind of thing is great for practicing patience, too! (I love these kinds of homeschool days!)
Despite a few parts the girls have both declared gross (like when the boy has to lick sweat off cow noses to keep from dying in the desert), we're enjoying a new book called Facing the Lion: Growing Up Maasai on the African Savanna. Last week's visit from Beth, with her first-hand stories of women in Uganda and Zambia, and those great necklaces made by the women there, was a perfect intro into our study of Africa.
We still use News Current for current events. Lindsey and Kathryn both read it, and Ken and I always learn something from every edition ourselves!
Nature study this week was quite literally right outside our window! See yesterday's post for photos of a pair of red-tailed hawks having a meal in our yard!
For assigned reading this week, Kathryn began Pollyanna, and Lindsey finished up Understood Betsy. I have no problem choosing books Kathryn loves, but Lindsey has disliked all my picks so far. I don't think she liked my explanation of it being like food; if you're accustomed to junk food, you don't love fresh veggies, and if you're used to twaddle, you don't love good books. Oh, well -- we'll get there! And she is reading it without too much complaint. But suggestions for twaddle-free books for teens are very welcome!!!
Our Bible reading this week has been in Job; heavy stuff to explain to a nine-year-old, but I do love the part where God answers back because I love imagining things like storehouses of snow. The girls have started making pages for their Bible notebooks. Our goal with these notebooks is to cement their learning, and to have a lovely record of what we've been studying. I'll share some of those pages soon.
Last week Kathryn finished up Horizons 3 math, so she began Horizons 4 this week. I love that homeschooling allows us to work at our own pace, at an appropriate level for each child, no matter what we call their grade number. I actually really dislike the concept of being in a certain grade, but I we go with it for the purposes of state record-keeping, and because it's easier to explain to friends and family. Anyway, Lindsey is still doing Life of Fred, and that's going fine for now, but I'm already considering what I want to do when she finishes that.
I bought both girls their own nature-themed copywork books from Queen Homeschool because I've discovered that Lindsey loves copywork. It's one of the few school-related things she enjoys so far, so I want to encourage that!
We've added creative writing to our weekly schedule, and I'm using lessons from The Write Stuff Adventure. This week the girls both wrote about a spider, based on the itsy bitsy spider song. Kathryn's story amused me greatly. Lindsey did a good story last week about being the only person on earth and then hearing a knock at the door.
Handiwork is something both girls enjoy. Kathryn has done some cross-stitching before, but Lindsey is new to it. We bought a few small (not overwhelming!) cross-stitch sets for the girls and they wanted to start on them right away! This kind of thing is great for practicing patience, too! (I love these kinds of homeschool days!)
Despite a few parts the girls have both declared gross (like when the boy has to lick sweat off cow noses to keep from dying in the desert), we're enjoying a new book called Facing the Lion: Growing Up Maasai on the African Savanna. Last week's visit from Beth, with her first-hand stories of women in Uganda and Zambia, and those great necklaces made by the women there, was a perfect intro into our study of Africa.
We still use News Current for current events. Lindsey and Kathryn both read it, and Ken and I always learn something from every edition ourselves!
Nature study this week was quite literally right outside our window! See yesterday's post for photos of a pair of red-tailed hawks having a meal in our yard!
For assigned reading this week, Kathryn began Pollyanna, and Lindsey finished up Understood Betsy. I have no problem choosing books Kathryn loves, but Lindsey has disliked all my picks so far. I don't think she liked my explanation of it being like food; if you're accustomed to junk food, you don't love fresh veggies, and if you're used to twaddle, you don't love good books. Oh, well -- we'll get there! And she is reading it without too much complaint. But suggestions for twaddle-free books for teens are very welcome!!!
Our Bible reading this week has been in Job; heavy stuff to explain to a nine-year-old, but I do love the part where God answers back because I love imagining things like storehouses of snow. The girls have started making pages for their Bible notebooks. Our goal with these notebooks is to cement their learning, and to have a lovely record of what we've been studying. I'll share some of those pages soon.
